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eyes on the U.S.

Wounded Boston Bombing Suspect Starts To Communicate

ABC NEWS, BOSTON HERALD, NBC NEWS, REUTERS (U.S.A.)

Worldcrunch

BOSTON - As the United States prepares Monday to mark one week since the bombing at the Boston Marathon, the lone surviving suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is reported now to be conscious and responding sporadically in writing to questions.

Investigators are asking the Chechen suspect about other possible cell members, as well as other unexploded bombs, law enforcement sources told ABC News late Sunday night. His older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev died late Thursday night during a gun battle with police after the two were spotted on CCTV footage just before the bombing.

Nearly 48 hours after he was taken into custody, following an intense gun battle and manhunt that shut down the city, the 19-year-old has been communicating with a special team of federal investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital. He was responding to questions mostly in writing because of a throat wound, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity. He remains in serious condition.

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Tsarnaev is being treated for a gunshot in the mouth that exited the back of his neck, said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, who was interviewed on CBS" "60 Minutes." He also suffered a gunshot wound to the leg, Davis added.

The official declined to offer any details about the exchanges, writes USA Today, but said Tsarnaev was providing "substantive" information. Authorities also said that the suspect's neck wound may have been the result of a suicide attempt sometime prior to his capture.

Word that the wounded suspect is able to communicate with authorities came as a surprise, says the Boston Herald, especially after details about the severity of his injuries began to emerge earlier in the day. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino had told an interviewer early on Sunday that “we don’t know if we’ll ever be able to question the individual."

Authorities told Reuters that the sedation, and a tongue injury from the throat wound itself, had left him incapable of speech and precluded questioning by investigators.

U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz, the federal prosecutor for the Boston area, was preparing criminal charges on Sunday against Tsarnaev, a naturalized U.S. citizen, according to Davis. It was not clear when charges would be filed, but sources said it could come as early as Monday, reports NBC.

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Economy

Lex Tusk? How Poland’s Controversial "Russian Influence" Law Will Subvert Democracy

The new “lex Tusk” includes language about companies and their management. But is this likely to be a fair investigation into breaking sanctions on Russia, or a political witch-hunt in the business sphere?

Photo of President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda

Polish President Andrzej Duda

Piotr Miaczynski, Leszek Kostrzewski

-Analysis-

WARSAW — Poland’s new Commission for investigating Russian influence, which President Andrzej Duda signed into law on Monday, will be able to summon representatives of any company for inquiry. It has sparked a major controversy in Polish politics, as political opponents of the government warn that the Commission has been given near absolute power to investigate and punish any citizen, business or organization.

And opposition politicians are expected to be high on the list of would-be suspects, starting with Donald Tusk, who is challenging the ruling PiS government to return to the presidency next fall. For that reason, it has been sardonically dubbed: Lex Tusk.

University of Warsaw law professor Michal Romanowski notes that the interests of any firm can be considered favorable to Russia. “These are instruments which the likes of Putin and Orban would not be ashamed of," Romanowski said.

The law on the Commission for examining Russian influences has "atomic" prerogatives sewn into it. Nine members of the Commission with the rank of secretary of state will be able to summon virtually anyone, with the powers of severe punishment.

Under the new law, these Commissioners will become arbiters of nearly absolute power, and will be able to use the resources of nearly any organ of the state, including the secret services, in order to demand access to every available document. They will be able to prosecute people for acts which were not prohibited at the time they were committed.

Their prerogatives are broader than that of the President or the Prime Minister, wider than those of any court. And there is virtually no oversight over their actions.

Nobody can feel safe. This includes companies, their management, lawyers, journalists, and trade unionists.

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